A Tale of Two Churches and Two Canadas

In a remarkable and rather disturbing turn of events, a group of seasoned spiritual leaders and academics have written an open letter, accusing the Holy Father of heresy, asking him to repent and clarify his errors, and urging the bishops and cardinals to take the necessary steps if he does not, for the good of the Church and her members, in accord with the final code in the Code of Canon Law: salus animarum suprema lex: ‘The salvation of souls is the highest law’.

The authors claim that they are acting in response to ‘one of the worst crises in the history of the Catholic Church’, the title of Julia Meloni’s own take on this, worth perusing.

We will have to read their fifteen-page manifesto, ponder and respond. For there is no precedent for deposing a Pope who, by his office, has ‘supreme, full and universal power’ in the Church, as the Dogmatic Constitution, Lumen Gentium, teaches quite clearly, in accord with unbroken tradition.

For now, pray, that Saint Joseph might bring what mercy and repentance and unity of mind are possible, in accord with the truth, to all.

On more secular matters, but still with more than a hint of secular schism, Jason Kenney began his tenure as Premier of Alberta by picking a fight with his neighbours to the west, promulgating promised legislation that allows him to turn off the oil tap to B.C.. This is, in part, in response to John Horgan government’s role in blocking the TransCanada pipeline, which would have allowed Albertan oil to flow easily to the coast for overseas transport. In the law of unintended consequences, the lack of this pipeline, along with Trudeau’s punitive carbon tax, has caused gas to spike to $1.72 per litre in Vancouver. Kenney’s threat, if fulfilled, would cause that price to go a lot higher. So far, this is just in theory, but the law would permit Alberta to control the flow so they can get ‘full value’ for their product. Oil is what makes our economy go round, until they invent so-far mythical hydrogen or solar power to drive trucks and heat our homes and buildings, and Alberta has most of it. What, oh what, will Trudeau do, as Kenney feels his oats?

In Canada, as in every other nation, there are those who produce wealth, and those who rely upon those who do so – prescinding from children – eked out of the former’s bank accounts under state coercion, also known as ‘income tax’. When the former outnumber the latter, and, even worse, hamstring their efforts at wealth production – as we have seen in the blocking of the transatlantic flow of oil – we have deep resentment and anger, not a recipe for social and national cohesion. As one sign put it, ‘climate activists don’t build pipelines’; not only that, but they stop others from doing so, and a lot else.

In Pope Leo XIII’s memorable phrase, ‘it is by the labour of working men that states grow rich’. And, conversely, we might add, it is by the unproductivity of otiose men that states grow poor. Too many ‘climate activists’ – that is to say, too many miseducated Canadians – produce not much of anything, besides the hot air they’re so keen on reducing, which is a big reason why our GDP is tanking, as the ideological socialist agenda catches up with us.

I will leave you with a thought on this feast of Joseph the Worker: After the tenure – the work, if you will – of the likes of Justin Trudeau and Catherine McKenna and the likes of that Liberal spokesman with the red Elton-John glasses on the CBC regularly, will Canada and Canadians be better off, more productive, prosperous and virtuous or less so?

A final, morbid note: It is reported that more than 1% of all deaths in Canada – 2,613 to be precise, not including Quebec, where there are 1664 more – are now ‘medically assisted’, which means, less euphemistically, murder by physicians. There are those who see human suffering as redemptive, and those who see it as useless – with the implicit a priori presumption that we are but animals to be put out of our misery when things get ‘intolerable’. Expect that 1% to rise dramatically as the cost of end-of-life care increases, and as the ‘voluntary’ aspect of this ‘medical assistance’ becomes ever less so.

The tale of two Churches and two Canadas, to be continued: Sometimes, to paraphrase Saint Paul, we need schisms to bring things out into the open. As Christ tells us in today’s Gospel: For every one who does evil hates the light, and does not come into the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he does what is true comes to the light, that it may be clearly seen that his deed have been wrought in God.

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